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Laurie Beteau was walking along Mimico Creek in Etobicoke around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning when she noticed something unusual — ducks covered in an oily substance, so heavy and sticky that they couldn’t move their wings.

“When we walked by here they came right up to the path,” Beteau said. “It was almost like they were asking for help.” Beteau went home — crying three times along the way, she said — and reported an oil spill, before calling everyone she could think of to come and help the suddenly endangered waterfowl.

By 11 a.m., volunteers had joined Toronto Fire, staff from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Toronto Animal Services and the Toronto Wildlife Centre on scene at the creek near Rathburn and Martin Grove Rds. Mineral oil had spilled into the creek after a truck accident Monday, Toronto Fire said, covering its surface in a thick, reflective sheen and putting dozens of ducks in peril, as they were unable to fly or swim properly when weighed down by the oil.

Soon people were at work finding and grabbing the birds; captured ducks were taken to the Toronto Wildlife Centre; there, each duck was fed dextrose and charcoal to help absorb ingested oil, then given a bath to remove the oil covering their feathers.

Around 60 ducks had been rescued by the late afternoon, including a family of seven ducklings — and volunteers expect more ducks to be found throughout the week. The number of ducks affected is concerning, Toronto Wildlife Centre rescue team leader Andrew Wight said.

“We’ve responded to more oiled wildlife than you’d expect, but a lot of the time it’s just a pigeon or raccoon that’s jumped into a grease trap,” Wight said. “To have something with this many animals being impacted to this degree that’s pretty uncommon.”

Staff from the Toronto Wildlife Centre and Animal Services were continuing to walk along the creek Tuesday looking for more ducks who had taken to hiding in the bushes.

Eleven-year-old Derek Rawn and his older brother heard about the ducks and came to help. Along with catching them, Rawn was also patting ducks down with paper towels and brought boxes to put them in for transport.

“The oil hasn’t made them unalert. They were flying back and forth when we tried to catch them. I don’t know a lot about ducks but I’m guessing that’s a good sign,” Rawn said.

A duck retrieved from Mimico Creek gets the oil washed off Tuesday at the Toronto Wildlife Centre.

The source of the oil was believed to be a transport truck carrying power transformers that flipped on its side on the Highway 427 southbound ramp to Highway 401 on Monday evening, north of where the ducks were found, according to Toronto Fire. The transformers burst and released mineral oil that was not properly cleaned up.

Ministry of Environment spokesperson Kate Jordan said the transformers were “likely” the source of the oil in Mimico Creek and staff have taken samples from the creek to confirm. It’s possible that some of the oil spilled into a catch basin by the highway and then flowed into the storm sewer system, Jordan said, which is how it would have ended up in the creek. Staff from the ministry are following the creek upstream to pinpoint the source of the oil.

No other bodies of water appear to be affected, Jordan said, and ducks seem to be the only wildlife seriously impacted.

Firefighters and city workers set up containment booms around slicks in the creek, and vacuum trucks were busily sucking up the oil Tuesday. Booms were also been set up at the mouth of the creek at Lake Ontario, to try to keep the oil from spreading further.

The wildlife centre is asking for donations of Dawn dish soap — original formula only — to help with the duck cleanup and says that anyone who sees an oil-covered duck should call 416-631-0662.

Wight said he suspects they’ll continue finding affected waterfowl for a few more days, but he remained optimistic about the rescue effort.

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